Anthony J. de Nicola, chairman of Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe (WCAS) and co-founder of Invest in Education, approaches philanthropy with a venture-investing mindset, partnering closely with nonprofit organizations to help them achieve meaningful, long-term impact. He and his wife, Christie, focus their charitable giving on expanding educational opportunity, poverty relief, advancing healthcare initiatives, and supporting the Catholic Church through a wide range of faith-based and community efforts.
Mr. de Nicola joined WCAS in 1994 and has served on the firm’s management committee since 2000. In 2007, he was appointed president and became chairman in 2021. He serves on the board of directors for several of the firm’s private and public companies.
Mr. de Nicola earned his B.A. from DePauw University, where he graduated summa cum laude with an economics major and a minor in computational mathematics. He also earned an MBA with distinction from the Harvard Business School.
The de Nicolas strive to live gospel values, particularly aware of Luke 12:48 (“From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required."), as they steward the blessings God has bestowed upon them. Answering the Church’s call to provide a Catholic education for those who seek it, they are dedicated to improving the lives of others and to supporting the work and mission of the Catholic Church and Catholic schools. The purpose of their family foundation stems from their deep commitment to their Catholic faith and the Church’s ministries, to the great American republic based on individual and religious liberty, and to supporting strong communities. Through their extensive philanthropic work, their blessed gifts help to strengthen families and communities while supporting the freedoms, values, and principles that define our great nation and are consistent with the mission of Catholic schools.
Catholic schools and scholarships have been a high priority for the de Nicola family. As a result, school choice has been a central philanthropic focus for them for decades. In addition to his day job and spending time with his family, Mr. de Nicola also serves as chairman of Invest in Education Foundation, the only national organization exclusively dedicated to advancing educational opportunities at the federal level.
Mr. de Nicola co-founded Invest in Education in 2012 to promote improvement in K-12 education and expand access to school choice. On July 4, 2025, he and the Invest in Education team led the way in helping transform the school choice landscape by securing passage of the landmark federal tax credit scholarship law, establishing a permanent federal tax credit for private donations to fund K-12 scholarships. This incentive is designed to dramatically expand private charitable support for children nationwide. This historic law is the most significant school choice victory in U.S. history, and when fully implemented, it is poised to benefit millions of children for generations to come.
The de Nicolas remain dedicated to children and education. Mr. de Nicola is also a founding board member of Brilla College Prep, a public charter school in the Bronx, and the de Nicolas co-founded another charter school, Paterson Prep, in Paterson, NJ. Mr. de Nicola also serves on the boards of The Inner-City Scholarship Fund and The Catholic Foundation for the Archdiocese of New York.
The couple are Stewards of St. Peter in the Papal Foundation, members of The Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, and they have been honored for their commitment to Catholic education by the Archdiocese of New York, the Archdiocese of Newark, the University of Notre Dame, St. John’s University, and Don Bosco Prep, among others.
As parents of Notre Dame alums, Tony and Christie de Nicola have long supported the university. In 2019, the de Nicola family established the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture at Notre Dame, promoting the university’s wider efforts to share the richness of the Catholic moral and intellectual tradition through teaching, research, and public engagement. The de Nicola Center animates Notre Dame’s Catholic character on campus, amplifying the university’s voice on prominent issues of our time: human dignity, authentic human freedom, religious liberty, and the common good for a greater purpose.